diff --git a/src/libfetchers/github.cc b/src/libfetchers/github.cc
index 0e0655367..443644639 100644
--- a/src/libfetchers/github.cc
+++ b/src/libfetchers/github.cc
@@ -146,7 +146,17 @@ struct GitArchiveInputScheme : InputScheme
         auto tokens = settings.accessTokens.get();
         auto pat = tokens.find(host);
         if (pat == tokens.end())
+        {
+            if ("github.com" == host)
+            {
+                auto oldcfg = settings.githubAccessToken.get();
+                if (!oldcfg.empty()) {
+                    warn("using deprecated 'github-access-token' config value; please use 'access-tokens' instead");
+                    return oldcfg;
+                }
+            }
             return std::nullopt;
+        }
         return pat->second;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/libstore/globals.hh b/src/libstore/globals.hh
index 959ebe360..bd36ffc17 100644
--- a/src/libstore/globals.hh
+++ b/src/libstore/globals.hh
@@ -861,7 +861,7 @@ public:
         )"};
 
     Setting<std::string> githubAccessToken{this, "", "github-access-token",
-        "GitHub access token to get access to GitHub data through the GitHub API for `github:<..>` flakes."};
+        "GitHub access token to get access to GitHub data through the GitHub API for `github:<..>` flakes (deprecated, please use 'access-tokens' instead)."};
 
     Setting<StringMap> accessTokens{this, {}, "access-tokens",
         R"(